Headlines

Boston Globe

Romney’s campaign team wonders where it all went wrong

One of the gravest errors, many say, was the Romney team’s failure, until too late in the campaign, to sell voters on the candidate’s personal qualities and leadership gifts. The effect was to open the way for Obama to define Romney through an early blitz of negative advertising. Election Day polls showed that the vast majority of voters concluded that Romney did not really care about average people.

These failures are now the subject of scrutiny by national GOP ­officials who say they plan to “reverse engineer” the ­Romney effort to understand what went wrong. A number of Romney’s top aides stressed in interviews that, while they ­remain proud of their work, they feel an obligation to ­acknowledge their numerous mistakes so lessons are learned.

Rich Beeson, the Romney political director who co­authored the now-discredited Ohio memo, said that only after the election did he realize what Obama was doing with so much manpower on the ground. Obama had more than 3,000 paid workers nationwide, compared with 500 for Romney, and hundreds of thousands of volunteers.

“Now I know what they were doing with all the staffs and ­offices,” Beeson said. “They were literally creating a one-to-one contact with voters,” something that Romney did not have the staff to match.

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Election Day polls showed that the vast majority of voters concluded that Romney did not really care about average people.

It’s not exactly that Romney did not demonstrate that he cared about people, it’s that he didn’t treat people as adults and specify exactly how average people were worse off under Obama. Romney contrasted specific policies of Obama with his own, but didn’t weave them together to show what it all meant.

- He didn’t list the dozens of examples of Obama’s aggression against free enterprise, explain how that was socialism and then explain why his more capitalist policies are better for Americans.

- He didn’t list dozens of ways Obama slighted democratic allies, pandered to tyrants and then explain how that makes us less safe.

- He didn’t list the dozens of ways Obama turned us against each other, against our social foundations and then show how those were the Saul Alinsky tactics that he was photographed teaching as a community organizer/agitator.

- He didn’t list the dozens of elements in Obama’s background that led him and his formally America despising wife to unleash all that on America.

That’s a high bar to expect of any candidate, but what was so disturbing was that Romney didn’t even try. I think that he thought that average Americans couldn’t process anything more than incompetence in a president! So that’s how he packaged and sold Obama’s apparent instances of it, incompetence. But the Obama administration is of course not incompetent so average Americans didn’t buy it. (It’s anti colonialist)

Average Americans needed a candidate to help them understand the threats to their freedom, and Romney just further obscured the largest one – Obama. With all the political “noise” and misinformation the average American could not integrate the evidence. People on partisan radio and blogs who tried to help were divided from Romney, marginalized and conquered. A successful conservative candidate has to teach the benefits of freedom, constitutional law and democratic tolerance. He has to demonstrate how a progressive liberal opponent is the antithesis of it all. Romney had the temperament and credibility to do that, but he didn’t.

Election Day polls showed that the vast majority of voters concluded that Romney did not really care about average people.

And this is how liberalism has won. Instead of taking a rational look at who is better suited, more capable or screw up the least, then looking at the past four years and what Obama has directly stated people went with their emotions and voted for how they felt rather than logic.

Liberalism – one big emotional open sore that must be catered to at all costs.

The bottom line is that the electorate is much more stupid than anyone figured.

That’s why Obama won, and, conversely, it’s why Romney lost.

JannyMae on December 23, 2012 at 3:51 PM

That is accurate imo. The 3rd party d-bags actively campaigned for people to not vote for the R ticket, and the purist Akin-esque sat it out in order to admire their own glowing visages in the mirrors of their minds.
Obama was down by millions of votes in a cycle that saw the eligible voter rolls grow by about 8 million. He should have been easily beatable.
I’m sure some of the same people who were too ‘pure’ in their conservative ideas to vote for Romney/Ryan, trashed Akin for not stepping aside in order to gain a senate seat.
Hypocrites.

Zac Moffatt, Romney’s digital director, did not have the luxury of Reed’s time or resources. Moffatt came from the world of politics, had worked at the Republican National Committee and had long believed Romney would be the best GOP candidate for president.

Moffatt played catch-up from the start. He had 14 people working for him in the primaries and then, around May 1, he submitted a general election plan that required at least 110 people and would eventually have 160. Obama was far ahead. Moffatt recalled his assign­ment in daunting terms: “Can we do 80 percent of what the Obama campaign is doing, in 20 percent of the time, at 10 percent of the cost?”

As I pointed out immediately after the election, the selfishly motivated Palin-prolonged GOP Primary left Romney with insufficient time to defeat a candidate who had been organizing for 5 years.

..left Romney with insufficient time to defeat a candidate who had been organizing for 5 years.

Basilsbest on December 23, 2012 at 4:40 PM

Thats the problem for ’16 also.
While the repubs are licking their wounds and hopping to Obamas distractions, his machine has not left organizing and activism. I believe that is why Obama continues to seek donations to fund the machine that will push whoever the nominee is in ’16.
Another big deal that has probably been left in the ditch until next time, is securing the voting process and voter rolls.
Lucy and the football again.

As I pointed out immediately after the election, the selfishly motivated Palin-prolonged GOP Primary left Romney with insufficient time to defeat a candidate who had been organizing for 5 years.

Basilsbest on December 23, 2012 at 4:40 PM

Yeah, Romney’s so weak he had trouble getting past someone who didn’t even run. Whatever.

But hey, weren’t you telling us in here for months what a MAGNIFICENT job the Romney “campaign” was doing? Seems to me that you thought he had plenty of time…until it became undeniably apparent what an unelectable squish he really was.

He was out of touch with the mainstream American. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth – he made his millions on his Daddy’s “Roll-O-Dex”. He belonged to a church that most Americans can’t possibly identify with and some even consider a “cult”.

Hadn’t been the least bit gainfully employed since 2006. Amazing – he wanted everyone to think he was some kind of business guru based on his Olympic history and Bain vulture capitalist ventures. If he was so great in business – why wasn’t he running one and hiring people and creating things? He’s been sitting on his ass since 2006.

He was a flip-flopper … why should anyone believe a guy who’s switched positions on things as basic as abortion and gun control.

He ran as a Conservative – which was laughable since he’s the only other guy in this nation of 35 million people to have a Socialist Health Care system named after him besides Obama. Hell, the only difference between RomneyCare and ObamaCare is … ObamaCare hasn’t FAILED (yet).

He was the “establishment” choice. He ran a cut-throat campaign in the primaries, smearing his opposition and slaying them with his big bucks. Then, head to head against Obama – he became a sheep. WTF? Why does the establishment relish attacking Conservatives in the primaries and then giving Socialists a pass in the general?

He was the “establishment” choice – the same establishment that identified Freddie and Fannie as problematic and did NOTHING to reform them (too afraid of Socialists) – resulting in an economic meltdown ON THEIR WATCH.

He was the “establishment” choice – the same establishment that brought you MEDICARE PART D – UNFUNDED!! Biggest entitlement program since LBJ. Now the establishment wants to run on “reforming” entitlements but they are too balless to take on Obama and just shut this damn government down until he agrees to cuts.

Bottom line – an uninspiring candidate who was seen as the leader of an out-of-touch and completely discredited establishment.

Oh but – hey lets run another “moderate” in 2016! Third time’s a charm right?

That is accurate imo. The 3rd party d-bags actively campaigned for people to not vote for the R ticket, and the purist Akin-esque sat it out in order to admire their own glowing visages in the mirrors of their minds.
Obama was down by millions of votes in a cycle that saw the eligible voter rolls grow by about 8 million. He should have been easily beatable.
I’m sure some of the same people who were too ‘pure’ in their conservative ideas to vote for Romney/Ryan, trashed Akin for not stepping aside in order to gain a senate seat.
Hypocrites.

Mimzey on December 23, 2012 at 4:29 PM

Man those sour grapes in your mouth must be aweful!

Yeah man – it’s the voter’s problem – they didn’t want to vote for your flip-flopping, uninispiring and out of touch candidate.

You’re just sad you won’t have Obama to vote for again, right Obama voter?

FOAD.

kim roy on December 23, 2012 at 5:00 PM

One more thing – don’t be so quick to count Obama out in 2016. He could, by EO, declare himself eligible and the GOP opposition in congress will do about as much to stop that as they did Fast and Furious and Benghazi.

Anything is possible with this administration and this pack of establishment GOP losers.

All this is crap, including the responses. Until the GOP has the balls to fix the indoctrination that occurs in public education starting at the earliest stages of learning, then everything’s a moot point.

The GOP had a chance to create a voucher program that would have been a decent first step. What happened? Your candidate Bush betrayed you and instead funded it in its current form to extreme levels, gutting the voucher to appease the socialists.

Yeah man – it’s the voter’s problem – they didn’t want to vote for your flip-flopping, uninispiring and out of touch candidate.

He sucked man – that’s the bottom line.

HondaV65 on December 23, 2012 at 5:01 PM

The truth may taste sour to your mouth, but thats your willful ignorance to deal with.
The true sour grapes come from the people who know they helped in the destruction of this country, but are too cowardly to admit it.

Do you still think that there is no difference between Romney and Obama?
Just curious.

Delusional.
Do you actually believe that the country would be facing the same hurdles is Obama was no longer president??
Try to be honest in your assessment.

Mimzey on December 23, 2012 at 5:12 PM

No, you’re the delusional one with the “Romney will owe conservatives….they can hold his feet to the fire” garbage. And yeah, ultimately we’d be facing pretty much the same hurdles. Only with Romney it would be the drip drip drip of Lib Lite while his little army of flacks and ‘bots like yourself would be running around telling us it was really conservative and how we’d be helping the commies if we said otherwise. Now, the country is going to get what it probably really needs in order to wise up: a good dose of full-bore moonbat.

The true sour grapes come from the people who know they helped in the destruction of this country, but are too cowardly to admit it.

Mimzey on December 23, 2012 at 5:10 PM

You and your ilk sat around for months pimping an unelectable squish. Don’t blame the fact that he lost on the voters. The Romney pimps did far more to “help in the destruction of this country” than any anonymous commenter on a blog.

Maybe he thought he’d rather vote for the winning liberal. All you Romney pimps are the ones who can FOAD.

ddrintn on December 23, 2012 at 5:03 PM

Pfffft. He/she/it is just a delusional, incoherent moron. I supported Romney AFTER the primary because I thought less suffering while doing the work that needed to be done was preferable to another four years of Obama. Now it’s going to harder and a lot more people will be hurt.

I guess this subtlety was lost on a lot of people. *shrug*

Do you disagree with this assessment? Not sure who “you” is here as I am a staunch Palinista and had other people I preferred during the primary.

Pfffft. He/she/it is just a delusional, incoherent moron. I supported Romney AFTER the primary…

kim roy on December 23, 2012 at 5:23 PM

You supported Romney after the primary by joining in with the crew of ‘bot howler monkeys anytime they wanted to gang up on someone not convinced of Mr Electability’s electability. And what was it about Romney’s record that made you so damn sure we wouldn’t suffer ANYway?

You didn’t answer the question.
Do you actually think that Romney would be appointing the same radicals to his cabinet, pushing the same agenda to crush American energy production?
Do you think Ryan would be pushing for open ended spending with “stick it to the rich” taxes and promises to find something to cut sometime in the future? How about cutting the military?..increasing food stamps and disability checks?..etc, etc.

You and your ilk sat around for months pimping an unelectable squish. Don’t blame the fact that he lost on the voters. The Romney pimps did far more to “help in the destruction of this country” than any anonymous commenter on a blog.

Denial? Your Squish god lost…and yet he’s still Mr Electability, only the stupid voters failed to see it. Talk about delusion. You can’t even get the message after being hit over the head with a 2-by-4.

You supported Romney after the primary by joining in with the crew of ‘bot howler monkeys anytime they wanted to gang up on someone not convinced of Mr Electability’s electability. And what was it about Romney’s record that made you so damn sure we wouldn’t suffer ANYway?

ddrintn on December 23, 2012 at 5:27 PM

Oh FFS. Seriously? Yet you still voted for him.

You sound so very very butthurt. Grow up.

One thing I am pretty certain about is that Romney would never pledge flexibility to Putin and wouldn’t leave four to die in a fourth world sh!thole. That was enough for me. Suffering was/is inevitable. We were just haggling over the level.

I followed the advice of two people I greatly admire – Palin and Breitbart who both stated we have to get behind the primary winner and remove Obama from office. I was very much hoping it wouldn’t be Romney, but once it was the primary mission was to remove Obama.

Do you disagree with this assessment? I note that you didn’t state so previously, but rather whined and brought out your inner baby. Feel better?

You’re the butthurt one with your FOAD to anyone who told the truth about what Mr Electability was going to bring. Yeah, I voted for him. I’m one of those rubes that the GOPe takes for granted every cycle. However, about 4 million or so stayed home.

Grow up yourself. I’ll just wait though until you start in with the next GOPe mannequin.

One thing I am pretty certain about is that Romney would never pledge flexibility to Putin